Learn Something New Every Day!

I got a burst of motivation the other day. I don’t know where it came from ( or where it’s gone ) but I decided to run with it.

So, I cleaned.

And we’re not talking just the usual laundry and vacuuming here. Stuff got thrown away. Floors got cleaned on hands and knees. Stove eyes were removed, scrubbed down and replaced.

And as I Windexed the dresser mirror, I thought “You know, I should write something up here to wake up to every morning.” And I knew exactly what thought I wanted to be reminded of every day.

So, I took out an old tube of lipstick and beautifully scripted out before me:

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Choose this day Who you will serve!
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I stopped briefly to both admire my handiwork and question what I wrote. I thought “Is it Who or Whom?” Hmmm…. I knew it didn’t sound right, but I could not think for the life of me which one it should be. ( I blame all the fumes in the air. )

This is all it takes to torture someone like me.

I spent probably the next 2 hours or more fighting that little battle out in my mind. I finally decided it was most likely Whom and looked it up for verification. ( I mean, I had to sleep that night! )

In my search for verification, I came across Grammar Girl. Who knew?? Adults have their own “WordGirl“!

So, for anyone who may not already know ( and might actually care! )… here’s Grammar Girl’s “Quick and Dirty Tip” on the whole ‘who -vs- whom’ matter:

“Like whom, the pronoun him ends with m. When you’re trying to decide whether to use who or whom, ask yourself if the answer to the question would be he or him. That’s the trick: if you can answer the question being asked with him, then use whom, and it’s easy to remember because they both end with m. For example, if you’re trying to ask, “Who (or whom) do you love?” The answer would be “I love him.” Him ends with an m, so you know to use whom. But if you are trying to ask, “Who (or whom) stepped on Squiggly?” the answer would be “He stepped on Squiggly.” There’s no m, so you know to use who. So that’s the quick and dirty trick: if you can’t remember that you use whom when you are referring to the object of the sentence, just remember that him equals whom.”

And now, you, too will be able to wield your power of grammatical knowledge!

And I can start focusing on the message at hand instead of the grammar!!

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